Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 Explanatory Notes

207.Section 76 gives the Secretary of State power to revoke a person’s indefinite leave to enter or remain in certain specified circumstances.

208.Subsection (1) allows the Secretary of State to revoke indefinite leave where the person is liable to deportation but the person cannot be deported for legal reasons. An example of how this power might be used would be where a person has committed a serious criminal offence such that their deportation would be conducive to the public good but where they cannot be deported to their country of origin because removal would be contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

209.Subsection (2) allows the Secretary of State to revoke the indefinite leave of persons who are liable to removal on the grounds that they obtained the leave by deception, but who cannot be removed for legal or practical reasons. Practical obstacles such as difficulty in establishing nationality or the lack of a safe route of return can prevent removal.

210.Subsection (3) allows the Secretary of State to revoke the indefinite leave of a person and that person’s dependants in certain cases where a person is no longer a refugee – for example, by accepting the protection of the country of their nationality or establishing themselves in that country.. As those concerned will no longer require the protection of the United Kingdom, subsection (7) allows for administrative removal by amending section 10(1) of the 1999 Act.

211.Subsections (5) and (6) provide that leave granted before the power comes into force may be revoked. In relation to subsections (1) and (2) but not (3) leave may also be revoked where the action which triggers revocation occurs before the power comes into force.